The Roles of Women in Opera

1 2 Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 3 2. Operatic Women as Victims ..................................................................................................................7 3. Operatic Women as Femme Fatales................................................................................................25 4. Contemporary Opera and Conclusions ........................................................................................ 38 5. Epilogue ..................................................................................................................................................... 46 6. Appendix......................................................................................................................................................47 7. Works Cited................................................................................................................................................57 3 Chapter 1: Introduction It is extraordinary that today cultural, artistic and literary institutions are accepted for their historical and traditional merits, but we remain largely oblivious to their racism, misogyny, or inherently flawed content. Numerous artistic establishments, museums, and performance theaters decree the works of historic artists and scholars as classics, or timeless works of art. This leaves little room for criticism of these respective works. My capstone project delves into the world of opera and its traditions with this concept in mind. Presenting discourse criticizing the classic and contemporary roles of women in opera, this capstone analyzes examples of mistreated women in opera between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries the time when opera was at its peak in both interest and production. These historic— observations are juxtaposed with the contemporary opera L’Amour de Loin and female composer Kaija Saariaho. An analysis of these works illuminates an adverse and misogynistic trend in the treatment of the female characters. Furthermore, the prevalent performance of these works continues to perpetuate an outdated and unjust view of women in the industry today. Through the analysis of the contemporary work L’Amour de Loin and its female composer Kaija Saariaho, I take an anti-essentialist view; suggesting that there is no inherent difference between an opera composed by either gender. 4 Regardless, the objectified and exploited operatic woman is so instilled in this genre, that Saariaho herself suffers in this industry. This exploration of women in opera identifies two categories that operatic women: victims and femme fatales. These portrayals are problematic for several reasons. They pigeonhole women into an unfair erroneous binary spectrum, instill come from an exclusively maleoutdated perspective. and misogynistic Two case views studies on for womens each category rights, and present this discourse: Don Giovanni (1787) Madama Butterfly (1903) for portrayals Mozarts andCarmen Pucinnis Lulu (1937) for women portrayingof women as femme victims, fatales. and Bizets and Bergs The methodology for these case studies relies on the scores and librettos of each respective operas as well as feminist musical analyses and theories derived by musicologists Catherine Clément and Susan McClary.1 2Many other perspectives and articles have been employed to understand specific operatic examples, including "The Sexual Politics of Teaching Mozart's "Don Giovanni" Liane Curtiss article Don Giovanni and Jonath that Adiscusses Vision of the The female Orient: characters Texts, Intertexts, in Mozarts and Contexts of Madame Butterfly,on Wisenthals that looks Madama Butterfly.3 However, the work ofat theClément issues and linked McClary to exoticism remain mostin Puccinis central to the approaches taken in this capstone. 1 Clément, Catherine. Opera: the Undoing of Women. 2 McClary, Susan. Feminine Endings. 3 Wisenthal, Jonathon. A Vision of The Orient: Texts, Intertexts, and Contexts of Madame Butterfly. 5 Clément, a feminist philosopher and music critic, wrote Opera: The Undoing of Women in 1979. The first book to offer a feminist critique of opera, Clément delves into the ways in which operatic stories often kill or marginalize the female c 4 focusesharacters, on popular. they operatic suffer, they stories cry, and they lacks die. anyAlthough musical Cléments analysis of work the respectiveonly operas, Opera: The Undoing of Women pioneered the necessary discussion on the roles of women in this art and industry. Susan McClary offers a feminist critique of music in her book Feminine Endings. She looks at interrelations between the music, historical and societal contexts, and inherent masculine perspective. McClary points out that classically male-composed . Along with intentionally music represents women as otherscreates a tradition of a phallic centeredcreated feminine sense of seductiveness music for female in music, characters, this literature and music is part of a larger cultural tendency to organize sexuality in terms of the phallus, to devalue…the omnipresence or even to deny of this other formal erotic pattern sensibilities in (especially that of the female), to impose and maintain a hierarchy of power based on gender.5 Essentially, male-dominated music creates a fundamental power dynamic between s. gendersThe that purpose mimic theof each composers case study respective is to demonstrate political and the societal misogynistic background trend that has historically existed in opera as well as exemplify the binary and limited portrayal of women as victims or femme fatales in this industry. The framework of these case studies informs the original analysis and research in the fourth chapter of 4 Clément, 11. 5 McClary, Feminine Endings, 68. 6 this capstone, which looks at the contemporary opera L’Amour De Loin by Kaija publishedSaarhio as interviewswell as Saarhios with the career composer as a female as well composer. as the book That Kaija chapter Saariaho: relies Visions, on Narratives, Dialogues by Tim Howell with Jon Hargreaves and Michael Rofe.6 Their successfulstudy considers career the as dynamica composer. life and musical range that led to Saariahos wildly The subsequent chapters outline the historical roles of females in classically renowned operas. Ultimately, this capstone strives to look at the overall interweaving of the composed music and published libretto of each respective opera to draw conclusions on female representation as a whole. A common mistake in scholarly analyses of these operas assumes that audiences must be engaged with every artistic detail during the entirety of the performance to properly understand its meaning. Since most audiences are not comprised of musicologists, this position becomes an entirely impossible notion. Therefore, I have chosen to focus on concernedsections in witheach issuesoperas of music representation, and libretto instead that stood of delving out to into me asthe a entiretyfemale musician of each work. 6 Howell, Tim Kaija Saariaho: Visions, Narratives, Dialogues. 7 Chapter 2: Operatic Women as Victims Opera is invariab a story of patriarchal society that leaves womenly amurdered, story of womens raped, co-dependent, undoing— abandoned, or driven to suicide.7 Critics often argue that equality between female and malethe voices composers (women melodic can sing arias as loudand theas men,) inherent adds a depth to female characters that makes up for their lacking story lines. In other words, is the story in the music a story of equals? Catherine Clément remarks that lush operatic music anesthetizes the audiences: clear voices . Oh voices, sublime8 Analyzing voices, the high, categorically victimizedhow you femalemake one characters forget the and words the music you sing! that accompanies them in Don Giovanni Madama Butterfly, reveals just how much these storiesMozarts of equality and inequalityand Puccinis collide. Don Giovanni Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is widely recognized as one of the greatest and most influential composers of all time. Born in 1756 in Salzburg, the Austrian composer began writing music at the age of five years old. Mozart was one of the 7 Clement. 8 Clement, 22. 8 first composers to break away from the patronage system of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Although at times, he wrote for and was commissioned by aristocrats, Mozart often found subtle ways to make political statements in his music, to which Don Giovanni is no exception. boundaries allowed for the development of operaMozarts into newdesire territory, to push Opera political Bouffa . Characterized by its emphasis on the orchestra and comedic stories that appealed to opera bouffa brought opera to the proletariat. As thea different Grove Dictionary demographic, of Music Mozarts observes, possible. 9 After Don Giovanni, almost anythingDon was Giovanni is Consideredoften viewed an as effortless a timeless mix opera, of comedy performed and tragedy, as frequently Mozarts today as it was at its inception in 1787. Professor and historical musicologist Daniel Herwitz remarks that this opera is loved for its power, seduction and grace, the same qualities that the eighteenth and nineteenth century audience admired so much in Don Giovanni.10 By the time Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte premiered Don Giovanni, the eponymous lead character had already been known as Don Juan, a hero of the enlightenment. The story

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